The council never had any intention of selling to SISU. I recall Fisher saying numerous times, we need to own our ground, if that can't be the Ricoh then we need to build up our own ground.
The notion that SISU were never interested in buying the Ricoh before Wasps came in is ludicrous. The truth is that the council had no intention of selling to SISU so much that SISU went to extreme measures with Sixfields to try back them into a corner and force them to sell up.
It's sad, for the last 7 years all we've been hearing is that SISU must never own the Ricoh and now everyones screaming why didn't they buy the Ricoh earlier before Wasps.